𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑃ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑥 ✔︎ || 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑑

15

~ phoenix ~

I didn't turn to look.

A moment later, Giovanni appeared before me, looking down at me with a lazy smirk.

I glared, hugging my knees to my chest. "I didn't see your name on it."

"I'll have to fix that, then," he mused, picking a daisy from the grass. He then took a seat beside me, legs outstretched and arms propping him up.

Looking straight ahead at the dying sun, I tried to ignore him. The silence was between us was growing heavy. But it soon proved to be unbearable.

Resolves shattering, I scowled, "Why are you here?"

Giovanni laughed. "That's what I should be asking you. But-" He glanced at me warily. "-if you must know, Sofia gave me a head's up."

"What? You thought I'd dig a hole and escape underground?" I snorted, sardonically. "Anyways, who's Sofia?"

"My housemaid."

"Oh," I muttered, adding, "What did you even do to that poor girl? She's scared shitless."

He regarded at me with narrowed eyes, scrutinising my expression. "You know sometimes I wonder what's in that pretty little head of yours... certainly not a functional brain..."

I flipped him off, opening my mouth with a worse insult.

He caught the hand and continued, "Because if you had one, you'd see she's not scared shitless of me, but of you."

"Me?" I demanded, incredulously, "What the hell is so scary about me?"

I struggled to wrench my hand out of his grip, but instead, he began to examine my rings.

Absentmindedly, he answered, "Not your personality, bella. Your appearance: the tattoo you bear on your hip, your uncommon paleness, your startling blue eyes..."

"And?" I scoffed, finally pulling my hand free. Pale?! I wasn't pale!

"More simply, you're a Russian." The word rolled off his tongue with loathing.

I rolled my eyes. I heard the same thing too many times.

Before I could respond, Giovanni added, "Well at least, you resemble one. But there's more to Sofia's story. Would you like to hear it, bella?"

Wordlessly, I nodded. By the sobering of his tone, I figured it wasn't a happy tale.

Tearing blades of grass between his fingers, he began: "Sofia is an orphan, with no family of her own. In Rome, when a girl is 14, she is deemed old enough for a husband. So the orphanage released her. The very year, she was raped and abducted by foreign pale men. When we raided the Russian safe house outside the city, we found her. I brought her back with me."

He finished shortly, meeting my wide eyes.

I was shocked. That was far from what I expected to hear.

But if Giovanni spoke the truth, then some of it resonated with me. The way that poor girl never met my eyes, the way she stuttered, the distance always between us... she was afraid. Of me.

Masking my sorrow with nothingness, I looked back at the broad fields ahead. I never believed the Italians were the only wrongdoers in this war, but at the same time, I hadn't realised the Russians could be just as bad.

But no, we didn't traffic women.

Swallowing a bubble of rage, I scoffed at his hypocrisy, "You care a lot for that girl, don't you? Too bad you didn't have the same mercy for the girls at that auction. How were they any diff-"

Giovanni's hand clamped roughly on my upper arm, tugging me forwards until we were a breath apart. I glared fiercely into the pits of his dark eyes.

"Do not speak of things you don't understand, bella," the bastard sneered.

Struggling, I spat at him, "There isn't much to understand, you fucking hypocrite. Why the fuck is Sofia different to the ones you have kidnapped every day?"

His chest rose and fell as his breaths grew more ragged. The fingers on my arm pressed down punishingly.

But, despite the physical pain, there was a deeper anguish in my chest that needed to be released.

"Do you want to know what fucking happened that day, you bastard?" My eyes stung as I pictured the blonde curls and bright eyes that would always haunt me. "There was this girl, this beautiful, innocent girl — she could hardly be older than 14 herself — and guess what happened to her, Giovanni—" Now hot, angry tears streamed down my cheeks. "-They killed her. Your men shot her right in front of the stage that you bought me from. So fucking tell me! Why did she deserve to die, when your precious, little Sofia didn't?"

I didn't register the bright sting on my cheek until I saw his hand fly away. Regardless of the pain, I laughed. "That's it?"

His hot breath was at my ear. "Save yourself, little bird. This world seems to be far darker than you imagine. And the sooner you realise it, the more likely you will come out the other end unscathed."

"But I'm already on the other side. This world you say," I taunted, glowing with the rage in my veins, "is the world I will bring down to ashes. So, I would suggest you save yourself."

Giovanni released my arm, rising to his feet with a humourless smirk plastered onto his lips. "So be it, bella. You want to play with fire? I will give you fire."

The unspoken threat hung in the air even after he disappeared from sight. But in the longest time, I felt unburdened. Free of fear and pain.

The sun was crawling to refuge as the moon charged forwards over the horizon. I watched darkness prevail.

Nonetheless, little diamonds gleamed in the night. My mom used to say: the brightest souls become the brightest stars. Undoubtedly, that nameless, blue-eyed angel was up there, burning fiercely and freed from the horrors of this world. My heart would always ache for her but some little part of me was relieved. She didn't deserve to be tainted, not in the way I'd become.

Bloodshed, evil and deceit. Those were the foundation of my new kingdom.

I thought back to Giovanni's warning. Fire, he said. Well, I'd be burnt but victorious.

After all, I was Phoenix.

NOTE:
Some of you think Giovanni's gonna fall for Phoenix! Have you forgotten about Saving Gianna, ppl?! I mean as tempted as I am, that plot line would be far too complicated and a certain feisty Italian wants her step-brother all to herself.
Sorry to burst any bubbles, lmao, xo, Rosavi